The permits are intended to accommodate the demand for wood in Aceh’s post-tsunami reconstruction effort. But residents complain that they were not consulted and that they will have to bear the brunt of adverse consequences, such as increased flooding dangers.

The Aceh office of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) points out that illegal logging continues unabated and proposes that confiscated timber—as much as 7 million cubic meters in all of Indonesia—be used in reconstruction instead.